Rewards and Consequences
by Kallizakat
Summary: James and Lily Potter went to New York to attempt to gain allies in the fight against Voldemort. While there, they met a billionaire playboy named Tony Stark, who participated in a one-night adventure with the young couple. Now, almost three years later, Tony receives a letter that'll flip his entire world on its head.


**Author's note: ** This will likely not be continued. It was just an idea I had which wouldn't get out of my head, so I wrote it, then once it was written, I figured "Hey, why not?" and posted it. This is sort of my response to the "Tony's illegitimate child" idea mixed with mpreg, which I normally am wary of but this was too amusing to me to ignore, and I've never seen quite this version before. If anyone wants to adopt it, let me know and I see no reasons why not to let you.

About "Riddick's Shadow," for those who care: it's being worked on, some of the stuff is being re-vamped. It's not dead, just ... difficult.

**WARNING: **References to mpreg and slash. Mature themes, blah blah blah. If you have problems with any of the above, DON'T READ IT! Rated M for safety's sake.

**Disclaimer: **The very strange idea is mine, but Ironman and Harry Potter are in no way, shape or form mine, nor will they ever be. Don't sue. I'm poor.

* * *

_To Tony Stark:_

_I know you prefer the direct approach, so I'll be blunt. If you're receiving this letter, then both I, Lily, my best friend Sirius, and Lily's best friend Alice and her husband Frank are either dead or otherwise unable to care for our son, Harry, who is still alive. These were the only parameters by which this letter was to be sent._

_I'm sorry, and this letter and the request I'm about to make of you was an absolute last resort. First, I need to explain why I'm making it. Lily and I belong to a secret community in Britain. We have quite effectively separated ourselves from the world at large, and keep to ourselves. On the rare occasions that our members venture out into the general population, do what we needed to do and return, going sometimes to great lengths to keep from being discovered. Our society exists in a number of countries, including yours. We request that you not look into it, both because we are a private people and for reasons that will be outlined later._

_We were in New York to attempt to connect with some of our people there, and as you might have realized, it wasn't going well. Our society is old, and was stagnating. As such, we'd started inviting certain people who met our requirements to join us. Lily is one of those who was given, and accepted, that invitation. Unfortunately, not all of our members agreed that this was the best course of action, and some of them chose to protest by killing our new members. A terrorist group was formed, and for the last year and a half we've been fighting against them. The fight is not going well. Worse, Lily and I recently discovered that our family has been targeted by the leader of the group, and so we are going into hiding._

_And now comes the more difficult revelation for me to confess. I'm sure you've heard of mutants. Our society, among other things, has certain abilities. For the sake of explanation, we shall equate it to mutants. It was one of the reasons we withdrew from normal society: our abilities were distrusted and feared, and our people were being hunted. My family's ability hasn't been seen in ten generations, which is why my parents never bothered to test me for it. We'd all believed the ability had died out. I didn't find out until after Lily and I returned from New York that it hadn't. You see, the mutation found exclusively in my family line is a sort of hermaphroditism. I am capable of impregnating women, and I am apparently also capable of being impregnated by men. Harry has also inherited the ability._

_You've a brilliant mind Tony, and I'm sure you've realized where this is going. Our son, Harry, is not mine and Lily's, but mine and yours. Due to the upheaval in our society, Lily and I deemed it safest if we kept Harry's true parentage a secret from all save our very closest friends. Only Sirius, Alice and Frank know, and I have the utmost confidence that they'll take that information to their graves if need be. It's also why we never told you, and why you shouldn't go searching for our society. These terrorists will stop at nothing, and they've targeted Harry as much as they've targeted Lily and I. To tell you would have been to make you a target as well, and we didn't believe that was fair considering you were only involved for a one-night adventure. All three of us separated happy with what transpired, and that was supposed to be that. You didn't sign up for a kid and you certainly didn't sign up to be pulled into a violent feud._

_Tony, if you've received this letter, then Harry has no one else. His only family here in the UK is Lily's bigoted sister and her equally bigoted husband. They despise Lily and our entire society. They don't even know about Harry, but if they did I'm sure they'd despise him just as much. I think it not unlikely that they'd refuse to care for him altogether. Our son, your son, has no one else._

_I'm begging. Harry is an innocent in all this, and he doesn't deserve to be left to the dubious care of an orphanage, especially if he's still going to be hunted. Please, please take him. Even if he's only raised by nurses and nannies, with your connections and power you can hide him. Hide him in the normal world, keep him safe. Say he's yours and Lily's, whatever you want. Make something up, we don't care. We just request that you make sure he knows the truth when he's old enough to understand it. He'll need to know anyway so he doesn't find himself accidentally pregnant, if nothing else._

_I'm not going to lie to you; it will be dangerous. If he's ever found, both you and he will be at the mercy of a madman with extraordinary abilities and an unending malice. If you do choose to take Harry, and if you need help, contact Minerva MacGonagall or Albus Dumbledore. They will be able to help protect both you and Harry. Instructions for how to safely contact them are enclosed. Until then, it's probably safest if even they don't know where Harry is. What they don't know, they can't be forced to reveal._

_Harry's full name is Harry James Potter. We hope you can take him and give him the home he deserves._

_Yours sincerely,_

_James Charlus Potter and Lilly Potter nee Evans_

* * *

Anthony Edward Stark's hands shook as he lowered the letter, staring blankly at the wall. He remembered that night. Lily Potter was absolutely gorgeous, and the only way to get her in bed had been to take her husband too. Tony, never one to refuse a challenge, had taken the newlyweds up on their offer. It was the one and only time he'd had a man in his bed, and James was right; all three of them had enjoyed that night immensely. Tony'd made sure of it.

He, James and Lily had been careful … with Lily. None of them had even considered that they'd have to be careful with James too! Tony was clean (the best medical professionals money could buy made sure of that), and Lily and James had only ever slept with each other. There should have been _no_ chance of pregnancy, no danger …

What the _fuck?_ James hadn't had any sort of visible biology which would have hinted at _hermaphroditism!_ What the fuck kind of mutation _was_ that? And who the fuck expected to have to worry about _impregnating_ a _man?!_

Oh, sweet baby Jesus! He, _Tony Stark, _had a _son!_

There was no way this was real. _No way!_ He'd get to the bottom of this, he'd figure it out. He'd go to England and demand to know …

But they were dead. Lily and James were dead. And they swore Tony had _a son_. A son who was going to either be given to relatives who hated him, or dumped in an orphanage. A son who was being hunted by a psychotic madman.

His fist clenched on the paper. It was too crazy to believe, except the part where Lily and James's (he wasn't going to accept the kid was his until blood tests came back, then he'd have the freak-out of all freak-outs) kid was orphaned and possibly being hunted by a psychotic madman.

"JARVIS! I want you to find out everything—and I mean _everything—_about James Charlus Potter, Lily Potter nee Evans, and Harry James Potter. Also everything about cults which have possible mutations, have separated from society, and are possibly terrorists."

He was striding purposefully from the room and toward the door. He would get to the bottom of this.

"PEPPER!"


End file.
